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Lumi: Linux Mint T-Shirt

Introduction: Lumi: Linux Mint T-Shirt

First, I must truly thank Instructables and Lumi for this awesome chance to try out such a cool product! I can see way too many uses for it :)

I am generally not one for advertising companies for free (or rather paying THEM to advertise for them....see any Nike or A&F shirt) but when I find a product that truly gives back to the community, I have no problems letting others know about it. That being said, I decided to make a t-shirt to display my love for Linux in general and Linux Mint in particular. Same applies for using Gimp to create/edit the images.

Next I added some text. The problem with creating a negative is that you always have to keep in mind that anything you do will be inverted. This is mostly true but that doesn't mean creating white text on a white background will produce black text! Not that I know from experience or anything....

Ok, so now we have a simple negative to print. Sadly I don't have a printer at home but I do at my workshop. So I go there and test print....the printer has a problem. Well that sucks. Oh, and I forgot the t-shirts at home too, which is too far to just go and get. Sigh. Ok, so I go back home, and take the images to a printer to print for me. But wait, the white yet won't print out (err....experience....). Luckily I am closer to home. Back home I go to edit the image again. Now we have a proper image to print.......ohhhh, look at that, the printer guys have gone out for lunch. Ok, of to a nearby coffee shop and wait for 45mins.

Step 2: Using the Sun

Despite it being an overcast day, I did see the sun poking it's head out in bits and pieces. I quick search on Lumi's website to verify that it's actually UV light that does the 'dyeing' process, I was ok with a cloudy day. Yes, those warnings of 'sunscreen on cloudy days' do have weight to them. The dye changed colour almost as fast as I was putting it on! Lesson learned, prep your stuff INSIDE before heading outside if you want a clean difference.

So there it is, with the printed sheet over the t-shirt. This was taken within 5mins of it being setup. The colour changes pretty quickly when exposed.

Step 3: The Finished Product

Due to severe lack of space in my apartment, I don't have a printer. So I took the sheets to a local printer and had to explain, with some difficulty, what I was trying to do. This was a slight challenge because I live in South Korea and my Korean isn't quite up to par, let alone trying to explain any type of complex ideas. Still, I got them to understand that I don't want the sheets to go through their expensive fax/copier/printer machine, just an ink-jet printer would do fine.

The guy thought the logo was too dark and lightened it up some. I thought the end result would be fine but alas, it was still too dark. Ah well, lesson learned. Easily fixed for a second printing though. Attached is a pic of the shirt after hand-washing twice in hot water.